Progress Michigan has been doing yeomans work holding the Snyder administration accountable for corrupt actitivies, shining the sanitizing sunshine needed to ensure that transparency isn’t just a catch phrase used by our Governor. In response to an August request for documents from the Michigan Department of Community Health, Progress Michigan was told in September that no such documents existed. Then, this week, they were told that the documents HAD existed but that they were destroyed when MDCH Director Jim Haveman retired.

However, the request was submitted on August 21st. Mr. Haveman retired after a mild stroke a full week later on August 28th.…

If you are sitting around wondering if it’s worth your while to get involved in the massive Get Out the Vote (GOTMFV) effort in the last two weeks of this election, two polls out this week should give you the nudge that you need.

I know what you’re thinking: “Eclectablog, how can I possibly keep up with all of the many scandals of the Snyder administration???” Whether it’s department heads living lavish, high-on-the-hog lifestyles on the taxpayer’s dime or “education reform” shysters ringing up huge travel expenses to promote their failed education experiment on Detroit school children, sometimes is just all seems like too much to keep track of.

Well fear not, devoted reader. Our friends at Progress Michigan have come to the rescue. Today, they unveiled SnyderScandals.com, your one-stop shop for the myriad scandals that have rocked the administration of Rick Snyder over the past four years.…

ACCESS TO GOVERNOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF SOLD AT RECENT REPUBLICAN CONFERENCEAn exposé by the New York Times shows that access to officials in the administrations of a number of Republican governors can be had by corporate America as long as they were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars:

[A]n error by the Republican Governors Association recently resulted in the disclosure of exactly the kind of information that political committees given tax-exempt status usually keep secret, namely their corporate donors and the size of their checks. […]

With Congress producing so little legislation, governors’ offices have become attractive targets, Mr.

This new video from Progress Michigan is their best effort yet. It tells the story of Aramark coming to Michigan in a very smart and clever way.

Privatizing our prison food services to a for-profit corporation is an experiment. But, as the the video shows, it was an experiment that was already proven to be a failed and flawed model for providing essential government services. Nonetheless. Gov. Rick Snyder went ahead anyway and now we find ourselves in the mess we are today.

This is getting ridiculous

NOTE: See update below.

An explosive report by the Detroit Free Press shows that Scott Woosley, head of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, along with other staffers has racked up huge bills, all paid for by Michigan taxpayers. Travel in stretch limos, $500-a-night hotel accomodations, $40,000 on international trips, all-alcohol “dinners”, and sumptious feasts were uncovered by a Freedom of Information Act request by the Michigan Democratic Party who were tipped off by a letter from an anonymous whistleblower.

The head of the state housing authority has rung up tens of thousands of dollars in expenses since taking office in 2012, dining on filet mignon, escargot and foie gras, staying in hotels that cost $400 to $500 a night, and traveling in a stretch limousine, records show…Officials who vet expense vouchers have rejected hundreds of dollars in reimbursements Scott Woosley has sought, such as a $47.60 “dinner” receipt from a Washington, D.C., bar for which the only items consumed were three glasses of 15-year-old El Dorado rum.…

County Commissioners from Oakland and Ingham Counties joined Progress Michigan yesterday in calling for Governor Rick Snyder to end the state’s prison food services contract with Aramark. Aramark has faced a rash of scandals including employees bringing drugs and other contraband into prisons, employees engaging in sexual activities with prisoners, and maggots being found in food service areas in two prisons. Over 80 of their employees – nearly a quarter of those working in our state’s prisons -have been banned from Michigan prisons because of inappropriate conduct.

In a conference call with journalists yesterday, Oakland County Commissioner Dave Woodward said, “Governor Snyder’s decision to privatize state prison food service through Aramark has been a colossal failure.…

We’ve had a great response to our call for sponsors for the Eclectablog 10-year “Blogaversary” party that’s happening on May 1st, 7-9 p.m. at the Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery (formerly the Corner Brewery) in Ypsilanti.

Tony Trupiano is the host of the radio program, The Voice of the People, heard on blogtalkradio.com every Monday through Friday from 9 AM until Noon ET and the author of two books, and has been part of the progressive media landscape for 20-plus years. Known as "The Voice of Labor" and as an activist & advocate, Tony has no problem showing up for a good fight. Follow him on Twitter @tonytrupiano.